Pitch Black - Park Shin Hye

*Please pray to all the victims and survivors of the Typhoon Haiyan in my home country, the Philippines. Even with just a single prayer, we Filipinos would surely gain more strength and courage to stand up again. Thank you to all those who donated and helped as well. Good karma will definitely be brought upon us.

May God bless everyone.

Mistake

Playing in the beach was an experience that Aerin enjoyed; it was something that made her feel alive again, and she wasn’t going to deny it. Same for the Oh brothers, they may have been to the beach before with their circle of friends, but they have to admit that playing with the usually quiet Aerin was much more fun than one could ever expect.

The whole exuberance, however, was put to an end once the sun had begun to set, and the truck was still stuck in a small mud puddle. The whole situation dumbfounded the three of them at first, for neither of them knew that there was a small mud pile beside the shortcut leading to the main road. Luhan and Aerin had been using the way for who knows how many times already and never have they seen the mud pile before. Contrary to their claims though, Sehun had dissed them, saying that they were being careless and forgetful, especially to his brother Luhan, for the older male was the one that led the truck there.

Pressing the gas pedal hard, the back wheels of Aerin’s truck started rolling again; however, it didn’t change their situation, and even made the two brothers, who were pushing at the back, even dirtier than they originally were. Seeing as they weren’t making any progress, Aerin sighed and looked over towards the side mirror where both the mud filled Luhan and Sehun were. “Can’t you push harder?” Aerin asked nicely so as not to sound rhetorical. “It’s been half an hour and we’re still stuck here. I don’t think Aunty Sena would appreciate it if you two are still out at night.”

Hearing Aerin’s words, Sehun scoffed and looked at her incredulously. “What are we, preschoolers?” Sehun gave out an amused chuckle, together with Luhan as they saw the girl shrugging.

“Seriously Aerin,” Luhan said. “You’re even younger than Sehun.”

“Only by a year, do take note of that.” Aerin answered back, obviously not liking the idea of being regarded as the youngest. She made sure to not dwell too much on their small conversation though, and suddenly pressed on the gas pedal again, causing for both the unsuspecting Luhan and Sehun to be splashed by more mud.

“What the—oi, watch it!”

It wasn’t on purpose, in all honesty, but seeing the two males covered in even more mud gave a slight amusement to Aerin, causing for her to chuckle. Both Luhan and Sehun didn’t believe her claims, but upon seeing the happy look on the girl’s face, their annoyance was quickly replaced by laughter—one that managed to last for a while.

Their happiness even heightened more, once Luhan and Sehun had finally managed to push the truck out of the mud pile, at the cost of them splashing right onto the puddle, completely covering their whole bodies with mud. It was fine with them nonetheless, for they were already dirtied to begin with. They only made a complaint however, when Aerin had instructed them to sit at the opened trunk for she didn’t want to get her leather seats to get stained with mud. “Don’t worry, people think that riding at the back of a pick-up truck is cool.”

“Yeah, it sure is.” Sehun snorted, having no choice but to follow after his brother who was already seated comfortably at the back. Once the both of them were seated comfortably, Aerin gave them a small smile as she drove back to their house, glad that they were finally able to get out of that small predicament.

It took them no less than twenty minutes to arrive at Aerin’s house, and much to Luhan and Sehun’s reliefs, no passerby managed to see them at their embarrassing states. Albeit, that won’t stop them from taking a small revenge towards Aerin who did nothing and just drove.

Getting down from the open compartment, Luhan and Sehun immediately dragged Aerin out, giving her utter confusion. “Hey, what are you—“ Although, before she can even react, she was already shoved on the back compartment, dirtying her whole body with mud that the two brothers managed to bring. “You did not just make me dirty.”

“Oh, we just did.” Sehun said smugly, causing for Luhan to chuckle. “Now, we’re even.”

It vexed Aerin a bit since their actions were purely unnecessary, but she ended up forgetting about that aggravation once she heard her stomach grumbling, followed by that of Sehun’s. Their angry stomachs made way for the brothers’ laughter, now with the participation of Aerin as well. It puzzled her, the way her mood changes whenever she’s around Luhan and Sehun; it was so odd how she was annoyed with them awhile ago, yet she ended up laughing with them now. She felt like her tenacity weakened because of them, because of their constant antics; however, it wasn’t something to be displeased about. Aerin thought that maybe it was a good thing since being too tenacious wasn’t really the best, in her opinion.

“I better go wash up now and make dinner,” Luhan said, being the first to get over their hysteria as he tried to wipe the excess mud off of his arms. “I’m getting hungry too.” He then eyed Sehun strictly, stopping the younger male from following behind him. “And you, clean up Aerin’s truck. You were the one who suggested that we use it instead of my car anyway.” Before Luhan entered the house though, he made sure to give one last look towards the two teens seriously. “Be good now, you two.”

“Tsk, if I only knew it would be like this…” Sehun mumbled, narrowing his eyes playfully towards Aerin, causing for the girl to look at him in disbelief. Seeing as Aerin took his words seriously, Sehun then frowned. “I was just joking, you know.”

The response she got from Sehun was priceless, and she ended up laughing by herself. She didn’t think that she would actually fool the male with her stiff acting, and knowing otherwise made her a bit proud. The hearty laughter stopped though, once she saw the smirk painted on Sehun’s face, together with the water hose in his hands. “I knew you were just trying to act all shocked.”

And in a blink of an eye, Aerin found herself being sprayed by Sehun using the high pressured water hose. “Hey! What are you doing—“ She couldn’t even lash out at the male for the water being sprayed on her face was just too much to bear, and it annoyed her so, so much.

Not to mention the annoying laughter coming from Sehun, Aerin gritted her teeth and finally opened her eyes. Without warning whatsoever and though with much difficulty, she suddenly grabbed the water hose from Sehun and pointed it towards him, turning it on to full power.

“Hey, hey, stop!” Sehun screamed, also rendered unable to move with the strong force coming from Aerin. Nevertheless, it didn’t hinder him from stopping the girl for no matter how painful the gush of water was, he was still able to grab hold of the girl’s hands, stopping her from tormenting him any further. “Aerin—“ Sehun paused, feeling a slight hint of electricity rushing to him as he held her hands tightly. “W-why did you do that?” Sehun asked with a concerned look, trying to ignore the feeling that he just felt.

Giving him the same expression, Aerin’s eyebrows creased. “Sehun, why did you do that?”

Hearing Aerin made Sehun do a double take on her and his inhibition was forgotten.